Electronic mail system with RF communications to mobile processors

ABSTRACT

A system ( 100 ) for transmitting information from one of a plurality of originating processors A-N to at least a plurality of destination processors (A-N) which may be transported during operation in accordance with the invention includes at least one gateway switch ( 14 ), a gateway switch storing information received from one of the at least one originating processor prior to transmission of the information to the at least one destination processor; a RF information transmission network ( 302 ) for transmitting stored information received from one of the at least one gateway switch by RF transmission to at least one destination processor; at least one interface switch ( 304 ), an interface switch connecting a gateway switch to the RF transmission network and transmitting stored information received from one of the at least one gateway switch to the RF information transmission network; and wherein the information is transmitted to a receiving interface switch by the electronic mail system in response to an address of the receiving interface switch which has been added to the information originated by the originating processor by either the originating processor or gateway switch and the information is transmitted from the receiving interface switch to the RF information transmission network with an address of the destination processor to receive the information which has been added by either the originating processor, a gateway switch or the receiving interface switch.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] Reference is made to other applications which are incorporated byreference in their entirety.

[0002] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/702,319, entitled “ElectronicMail System with RF Communications to Mobile Processors Originating FromOutside of the Electronic Mail System” now U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,611; and

[0003] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/702,938, now U.S. Pat. No.5,479,472, entitled “System for Interconnecting Electronic Mail SystemsBy RF Communications”;

[0004] This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/640,076, filed Aug. 17, 200; which is a Continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/455,409, filed Dec. 6, 1999; which is aContinuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/161,462, filed Sep. 28,1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,067,451, which is a Continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 08/844,957, filed Apr. 23,1997, now U.S. Pat. No.5,819,172, which is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.08/443,430, filed May 18,1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,670; which is aContinuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 07/702,939, filed May 20,1991, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,436,960.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0005] The present invention relates to electronic mail systems fortransmitting information between processors.

BACKGROUND ART

[0006] The use of computers to send and receive electronic mail messagesis becoming very popular globally. Numerous companies (both network andsoftware related) offer electronic mail packages (E Mail) and services.Currently, electronic mail services provide a convenient alternative tothe more formal facsimile transmissions of memos and documents.Electronic mail is typically used to send relatively short informalmessages between computers within an organization, or to a party locatedat a distant location or company. Electronic mail services are basicallya wire line-to-wire line, point-to-point type of communications.Electronic mail, similar to, facsimile transmissions, provides a one-waymessage. A recipient typically does not have to interact with themessage. Electronic mail, unlike facsimile, is a non-real-time messagetransmission architecture.

[0007]FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a typical electronic mailsystem 10 in commercial use such as by AT&T Corporation. The electronicmail system 10 is comprised of a plurality of single processors orgroups of processors #1-#N with N being any number with each grouphaving individual processors A-N with N being any number. The groups ofprocessors #I-#N may be distributed at locations which are linked by thepublic switch telephone network 12. The individual processors may beportable personal computers with a modem which are linked to the publictelephone switch network 12 through wired or RF communications asindicated by a dotted line. Groups of associated processors #1-#3 mayhave diverse configurations with the illustrated configurations onlybeing representative of possible architectures of groups of associatedprocessors. The groups of associated processors may be connected to ahost or mainframe computer through various communication mechanisms suchas direct telephone communications (#1), communications through a localarea network (#2), or communications through a private automatic branchexchange (#3). It should be understood that the illustrated architectureof the single and associated groups of processors is only representativeof the state of the art with numerous variations being utilized. Many ofthe groups of associated processors are contained within the databasenetwork of a single company or organization located at distributedgeographical locations throughout a country or in different countries.

[0008] Communications between an originating processor A-N, which may beany of the processors within the groups of associated processors #1-#3or processor #N and a destination processor A-N are completed throughthe public switch telephone network 12 to one or more gateway switcheswith mailboxes 14 which function to store the message for delivery tothe destination processor at a later point in time. The gateway switcheswith mailboxes 14 have a storage location, associated with eachsubscriber which may be any of the computers A-N within the associatedgroups of computers #1-#3 and individual computers #N, which providesretrieval capability of the electronic message when it is not delivereddirectly to the destination processor A-N such as when the destinationprocessor does not go directly off hook in response to an attempt todeliver the message from storage in the electronic mail gateway mailboxstorage location associated with the destination processor. In order tooriginate an. electronic mail message, the originating processor A-Ncalls an associated gateway switch with mailboxes 14 via telephonethrough the usage of a modem connection. This connection is made throughthe public switch network 12. A gateway switch with mailboxes 14 answersand provides a data connection to the originating processor A-N. Thegateway switch with mailboxes 14 typically contains the originatingprocessor A-N file and verifies that the sending processor is able tooriginate an electronic mail message via some form of passwordprotection. Upon verification of the entry password, the electronicgateway switch with mailboxes 14 down loads software and entry screensthat are displayed on the originating processor to permit a message tobe composed. Thereafter, the message is composed and transferred fromthe originating processors gateway switch with mailboxes 14 to thedestination processors gateway switch with mailboxes where the messageis stored and an attempt is made to deliver the message to thedestination processor via telephone connection through the public switchtelephone network 12.

[0009] Electronic mail systems have several common items that must beentered in order to originate and send (format) an electronic message.These items include the destination address, which consists of eitherthe person or company's name, an abbreviated form of the person'scompany or name, or a series of digits or alphanumeric characters thatmust be entered to indicate to the electronic mail system thedestination address of the recipient processor. Another item is anidentification of the originating processor which may be an indicationof the sender or the originator's name, company name, an abbreviatedform of the originator's name or company name, or a numeric oralphanumeric entry that comprises the sender's name or address. Thisinformation is collectively an identification of the originatingprocessor. Another item is the subject of the message which is typicallya short reference as to the subject matter of the text or message thatfollows. Finally, the message or message text must be entered which isthe information that is inputted by the person or machine which isoriginating the message at the originating processor A-N. Uponcompletion of the message text, the user or machine operating theoriginating processor A-N enters a series of commands or keystrokes onthe originating processor to transmit the message to the gateway switchwith mailboxes 14 associated with the originating processor A-N.

[0010] The transmission of the message from the originating processor'sgateway switch with mailboxes 14 to the destination processor'selectronic mail gateway switch with mailboxes is via analog or digitalcommunications through the public switch telephone network. Thedestination gateway switch with mailboxes 14 contains the destinationaddress of the recipient destination processor.

[0011] Upon arrival of the information at the destination processor'sgateway switch with mailboxes 14, one of two events takes place. Theinformation is typically stored in the destination processor'selectronic mailbox for later retrieval by the destination processorthrough interaction by the user of the destination processor. Thistypically happens as a result of the fact that a person is not locatedat the destination processor at the time of delivery of the message tothe gateway switch with mailboxes 14 or the destination processor is notturned on and connected to the public switch telephone network 12. Asecond methodology is that the destination processor's gateway switchwith mailboxes automatically dials the gateway processor's telephonenumber to deliver the information. In the situation where thedestination processor is within a company or organization, theinformation may be delivered to the host computer. The destinationprocessor's host computer stores the information until the destinationprocessor calls the host computer to retrieve the information. In bothof the methodologies described above, information delivery requiresperiodically calling a host computer or: a mailbox at the gateway switchwith mailboxes 14 to determine if new messages are present. This incursadditional costs in telephone calls and/or labor. If the host computeror gateway switch is not checked frequently, the information becomesuntimely in its delivery. If the destination processor frequently checksthe host computer or gateway switch, then additional costs and telephonecalls and/or labor are encountered.

[0012] As personal computers are used more frequently by businesstravellers, the problem of electronic mail delivery becomes considerablymore difficult. A business traveller carrying a portable PC has greatdifficulty in finding a telephone jack to connect the PC to fetchelectronic mail from either a host computer or a gateway switch.Connections for a PC's modem are difficult to find in airports with theadvent of digital PABX's in businesses and the telephone connectors areincompatible with a PC's analog modem. Hotels and motels oftentimes haveinternal PABX's that prevent calls from automatically being placed bythe user's PC to electronic mail gateway switches to retrieveinformation. Most portable PC modems will only operate correctly whenconnected to a true outside telephone line that has telephone batteryvoltages and dial tone available to permit the number to be dialeddirect. The inability to find an appropriate connection to connect thePC modem when travelling has contributed to the degradation ofelectronic mail reception when the recipient is travelling. Whentravelling internationally, this problem is further compounded by thefact that most electronic mail gateway mailboxes require a 1-800 tollfree number to be dialed in order to connect the mailbox. Almost all1-800 telephone numbers are available for continental use only andcannot be accessed from a foreign country.

[0013] Industry trends make it increasingly difficult to receiveelectronic mail. When PC's were exclusively considered an office ordesktop machine, it was less difficult to deliver electronic mail.Advances in the state of the art in microelectronics have permitted PC'sto be downsized to very lightweight portable (notebook), and notebooksize computers. These portable units have the computing and storagepower of the former desktop units and have lent themselves to the trendthat they now become very portable in their utilization. They are smallenough that they can easily fit into an attache case and/or a suitpocket. The net result is that the portable unit no longer resides inthe office or the desktop. The portable unit now may be taken home atnight, as well as on travel with the user, such as for business travel.Increased portability of PC's further aggravates the problem ofautomatic electronic mail delivery as a consequence of portabilityeliminating the wired communication paths which have been typically usedin state of the art electronic mail systems. The electronic mailindustry is currently experiencing a rapid growth rate.

[0014] Numerous communication companies are offering forms of electronicmail services. However, a problem arises that users of one electronicmail system currently cannot send electronic mail to a subscriber ofanother electronic mail system (e.g., AT&T E-mail to Sprint Mail, etc.).Numerous attempts are currently underway in the industry to solve thisproblem. Current attempts are the utilization of common protocolsbetween electronic mail systems (e.g. X.400). However, the proposedsystem does not resolve the problems resultant from portability andtravelling situations described above.

[0015]FIG. 2 illustrates a diagram of a prior art network 100 developedby Telefind Corporation of Coral Gables, Florida, which providedworldwide paging and data transmission capability and is a preferredform of the RF information transmission network used in practicing thepresent invention. This network is described in detail in U.S. Pat. Nos.4,866,431, 4,868,558, 4,868,562, 4,868,860, 4,870,410, 4,878,051,4,881,073, 4,875,039 and 4,876,538 and U.S. patent application Ser. Nos.409,390, 464,675, 465,894, 464,680, 429,615, 429,541, 409,605, and456,742 which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.The system was a distributed network of switches comprised of aplurality of local switches 112, a plurality of lata switches 114 and aplurality of hub switches 116 with each switch being located in adifferent geographical location within an area being serviced by thesystem. The hub switches 116 may be located totally within a country toprovide national service or in multiple countries to provideinternational service. Only a single portion of the network is labelledwith reference numerals with it being understood that repeating portionsexist such as for that portion under the jurisdiction hub switch #P.Communication links which are illustrated as a dotted arrow representnetwork structure which has been omitted for clarity that is identicalto structure that is illustrated in detail. Additionally, one or moresublocal switches may optionally be provided within the system under thejurisdiction of the local switch as described in the aforementionedpatents. The sublocal switches have been omitted for purposes ofclarity. Each switch has jurisdiction over a geographic area. Thefunctions performed by the local switch 112, the lata switch 114 and thehub switch 116 are described below. A local paging service 118 istypically connected to each of the local switches 112 which offers otherpaging services although it should be understood that the local switchmay be used exclusively to control all services offered at the locallevel. The local paging service 118 is typically an existing commoncarrier paging service which services an area within broadcast distanceof a transmitter 115 under the jurisdiction of the local paging serviceto which the local switch 112 has been connected to permit the localpaging service to function in the network to transmit pages to aplurality of paging receivers 119 (only one having been illustrated)connected to a peripheral device 119 which may be a data processorprinter, telex service, facsimile service or other types of dataprocessing devices. The paging receivers automatically download datastored in their memory upon connection to a printer for producing aprintout of the data. The printer was sold with the receiver by TelefindCorporation of Coral Gables, Florida. The paging receivers 119 aredescribed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,849,750, 4,851,830, 4,853,688, 4,857,915,4,928,100, 4,935,732, 4,978,944 and 5,012,235 and U.S. patentapplication Ser. Nos. 381,483, 381,527, 597,350 and 662,616 which wereassigned to Telefind Corporation of Coral Gables, Florida. Thetransmitter 115 may be either an analog or digital transmitter.Communications between the local, lata and hub switches may be by anyexisting communication medium 120 such as direct dial-up circuits (IDDCircuits International), direct outward dial circuits (end-to-end),in-bound watts (and other in-bound services that are volume discounted),out-bound watts (and other out-bound services that are volumediscounted), feature group A (U.S. service), feature group B (U.S. andEuropean services), MF tie trunks (U.S. and European services), anddirect inward dial (international service, where available), as well asany future medium which permits pages to be transmitted betweenswitches. Each of these services are indicated schematically by abi-directional arrow 120 which interconnects a local. switch 112 to alata switch 114, a lata switch to a hub-switch 116, and a hub switch toanother hub switch. Furthermore, the local switches 112 are connected toa local paging service 118 by a communication link 122 of anyconventional nature, including wires connecting the local switch to thelocal paging service. Each switch is provided with a local telephonetrunk 127 which functions as a maintenance port. Furthermore, dottedbi-directional lines 124 illustrate alternative communication pathsbetween switches which may be used in the case of malfunction or busyconditions. It should be further understood that the network is notlimited to any particular communication protocol linking switches, norconnecting the local switch to the local paging service. A telephonetrunk 28 functions as an input for manual (telephone handset) andautomatic device entry of pages as described below.

[0016] The network 110 provides numeric, alphanumeric and data servicesto all points within the United States and participating countries. Inthe preferred embodiment of the network, a universal code is used forencoding transmissions of characters over both the communication links120 and 122 which is compatible with existing analog and digitaltransmitter 115. A universal code discussed in the aforementionedpatents utilizes sixteen tones for encoding all. characters fortransmission between switches or to local paging service 118. Eachcharacter is transmitted as two successive tones. A X.25 modifiedtransmission protocol which is disclosed in aforementioned networkpatents is preferably utilized for transmitting packets of pages betweenswitches.

[0017] The network 110 is economical to implement and operate as aconsequence of utilizing distributed processing technologies andtransmission of pages periodically in packets of pages between theswitches. Dynamic interaction between a frequency agile pager, whichpreferably is of the type described in the above-referenced receiverpatents and applications and the network 110 efficiently utilizestransmission time that is available in the frequency spectrum. One ofthe distinct advantages of the network 110 is that it utilized existingpaging common carriers to deliver pages to the end user with existingpaging RF coverage in the United States being greater than 85% of itsgeographical area with just two 150 MHz frequencies with a total of10,500 additional frequencies being available for paging receiver use.Wire line common carriers, private systems, hospital, government,emergency and many other services can be accommodated by the utilizationof dynamic frequency programming, by the network 110 to change thefrequency band on which individual paging receivers may receive pages.

[0018] The network 110 provides an integrated sublocal, local, regionaland nationwide paging network that is transparent to use by thesubscriber and provides for pages (data transmissions) to be called intoan existing local paging service 118 by the making of a local phone callon a telephone trunk 128 connected to the local switch 112 in aconventional fashion as well as to any lata switch 114 throughout thenetwork 110 by a local phone call to telephone trunk 126. Thefunctionality of permitting pages or data transmissions to be originatedanywhere within the network 10 by local telephone call, preferably bycalling a single number within the country (950-XXXX) avoids thetelephone expense and system overhead caused by calling of a centralswitch to originate a page. It should be understood that the network'susage of periodically transmitting packets of pages between switchesresults in a much lower cost than the cost of 800 or conventional longdistance service. The phone trunk 126 for calling the lata switch 114 toplace a page anywhere within the network 110 is indicated bybi-directional arrows to each lata switch. Regardless of the location ofthe person making the telephone call to a lata switch 114 over telephonetrunk 126 to originate a page, the lata switch will formulate a pagewith the destination specified by geographically descriptive digits ofthe identification code inputted with the call to request a page or datatransmission to the lata switch and the network 110 will automaticallyroute the page through the switches of the network to the person beingpaged by way of the local switch 112, which stores a subscriber filethat stores the identification code of the subscriber and pagingreceiver. The local switch 112, which stores the identification codeinputted with the page in its subscriber file, adds one or moredestinations to the page and transmits the page(s) to the local pagingservice 118 and/or the network 110 by way of the lata switch 114 havingjurisdiction. The person placing the page by calling the local switch112 on telephone trunk 128 or the lata switch 114 on telephone trunk 126does not have to know the location of the person receiving the page.

[0019] The local switch 112 is connected to a participating commoncarrier paging service 118 located in a particular geographic area. Thelocal switch 112 has local direct inward dial trunks 128 which permitsthe subscriber to use a local telephone call to place a page. Pages overthe local telephone trunks 128 may be (1) numeric characters which areentered manually by DTMF tones or other telephone coding mechanisms, (2)alphanumeric characters which are entered manually by DTMF tones orother coding mechanisms, (3) alphanumeric characters which are enteredby an automatic message inputting device using an encoding format havinga transmission protocol of conventional nature such as DTMF tones or (4)a high speed (baud rate) encoding protocol such as an X.25 protocolpermitting a variable number of pages or data transmissions each withits own network destination to be formed into a packet which istransmitted to a single switch. The local switch 12 has voice promptingwhich facilitates the person placing a call on the telephone trunk 28 toenter a message to be transmitted as a page.

[0020] The local switch 112 processes the pages received from thetelephone trunk 128 and from the associated lata switch 114 to which thelocal switch is connected by the communication link 120. It should beunderstood that the local switch 112 has programming which automaticallyand dynamically monitors paging traffic when a plurality of transmissionfrequencies are used and allocates the frequencies available to thepaging service 118 for transmission to the paging receivers to maximizethe local paging services paging throughput as described below. Thelocal switch 112 calls the resident local paging terminal of the pagingservice 118 and determines how much air time it has to deliver a batchof pages to the transmitter U.S. associated with the local pagingservice. The local switch 112 then calls the local paging terminal ofthe local paging service 118 and transmits a batch of pages encoded inthe hybrid encoding format described below which is compatible withexisting analog and digital FM paging transmitters.

[0021] The local switch periodically transmits packets of pages or datatransmissions stored in an outbound lata buffer over communication link20 to the lata switch 114 having jurisdiction over it which providescost efficient transmission and efficient page or data transmissionprocessing. This architecture is highly efficient in routing the pagesoriginating at the local switch 112 to be transmitted by the network 110which are intended for broadcast by a transmitter remote from the localswitch having a subscriber file storing the identification code of thesubscriber to which data or a page is to be transmitted.

[0022] When the subscriber desires to receive regional, national, orinternational service, the local lata switch 112 is programmed by thesubscriber by simple telephone area code entries which identify theservice areas to which pages or data transmissions are to betransmitted. The programming is accomplished by adding or deleting oneor more area codes of the subscriber's destination field contained in asubscriber file maintained in the subscriber's local switch 112. In theUnited States, area codes are used for ease of subscriber use andtelephone books may then serve as the service area directory. The sameease of use is available to worldwide customers with county-city codeentries available from telephone books in any airport, hotel orbusiness.

[0023] The local switch controls the generation of individual pages ordata transmissions having message detail as described below withreference to FIG. 6. The number of pages or data transmissions which aregenerated in response to a page received without an area destinationfrom the telephone trunk 128 or from a lata switch 114 is determined bythe central processor of the local switch 112 interrogating any areadestinations listed in the destination area code field of the localswitch as described below with reference to FIG. 3. Each page or datatransmission generated by the processor contains the same messagecontent. A separate page or data transmission is generated for eachdestination area listed in the destination area code field and if thelocal service option of the service option field is selected, asdescribed below, an additional page or data transmission is generatedfor broadcast by the local paging service 118 without an areadestination in the network which is processed by the local switch 112 asa page or data transmission received from the network for broadcast bythe local paging service. Furthermore, each individual page or datatransmission generated by a local switch 12 contains one or morecommands. The commands which are added to each page or data transmissiontransmitting a message are determined by the operation of the centralprocessor of the local switch 112 in response to interrogation of theselected service options of the subscriber. Programming of receiverswith the channel programming command is in response to the local switchprogramming the receiver to receive one or more channels, subscriberprogramming of destination areas of reception in the destination areacode field, and the degree of utilization of the channels of the localtransmitter 115.

[0024] The central processor of the local switch 112 processes eachindividual page or data transmission received from the network todetermine if it originated from a local switch 112 or a lata switch 114.This determination is made by determining if a destination headeridentifying a lata switch 114 originating the page precedes the pagingreceiver identification code in a packet having the configuration ofFIG. 6. In the absence of the header (which is a geographicidentification of the originating lata switch 112 in the network) in anindividual page or data transmission, the page or data transmission isprocessed exclusively by the local switch 112 for broadcast by theassociated local paging service 118 without interrogation of asubscriber file in the local switch. If the header is found in a page ordata transmission, the central processor processes the page as either arequest to reprogram the subscriber file or as a page received on thetelephone port 128 without an area destination which must be processedto determine one or more area destinations and be formed into new pageseach with a different area destination from the area destination fieldif transmission by the network is to occur and into a page or datawithout an area destination if transmission by the local service 18 isto occur.

[0025] The local switch 112 also serves as the dynamic programminginterface between the paging or data receivers 119 and the network 110.The local paging service 18 may cause channels to be received byreceivers 19, change subscriber identification codes and add newcustomers to the network 110 utilizing the local switch 112. Thefunctionality of the receiver 119 can be changed from a fixed channel toa multichannel or a scanning receiver as required by use of the channelprogramming command.

[0026] Messages originating at the local switch 112 which aretransmitted to the lata collector switch 114 having jurisdiction over itare packetized as described below with reference to FIG. 6. Destinationarea codes (telephone area codes or other geographically descriptivecode) are added to pages or data transmissions prior to transmission tothe lata switch 114 and the receiver 119 is dynamically andautomatically reprogrammed for the new service areas by the local switch112 issuing channel programming command(s) which ensures that thereceiver 119 is programmed to receive channels in each designated area.The current channels remain in the receiver 119 to avoid loss of amessage while a subscriber is still in the area.

[0027] The lata switch 114 provides a second tier of networkintelligence. This intelligence includes page or data transmissionprocessing, packetizing and routing. The lata switch 114 receivespackets of pages from each of the local switches 112 within itsjurisdiction as well as the hub switch 116 having jurisdiction over it.The lata switch 114 provides the geographical presence for the network110 to originate and terminate pages or data transmissions utilizingdial-up or dedicated communication services.

[0028] The lata switch 114 is responsible for collection of pages fromthe local switches 112 within its jurisdiction. When a packet of pagesis received from the local switch 112, it is disassembled, processed andstored for transmission to the proper destination(s) in one or morepackets each consisting of one or more pages which are intended fordestination(s) either within or outside the lata switch jurisdiction.The lata switch 114 periodically transmits packets of pages stored inits outbound hub buffer and its outbound local buffer to the associatedhub switch 116 having jurisdiction over it and to local switches 112within its jurisdiction which provides cost efficient transmission andefficient processing by avoiding processing by a single central switchcontrolling the network 110. This architecture is highly efficient inrouting pages or data transmissions originating within the jurisdictionof the lata switch 114 which are intended for broadcast outside itsjurisdiction as well as distributing pages or data transmissions fromone local switch 112 to one or more additional local switches within thejurisdiction of the lata switch. If the page or data transmission isdestined for distribution within the jurisdiction of the lata switch114, the page or data transmission is processed. into packets fortransmission to each of the local switches 112 within its jurisdictionor alternatively to less than all of the local switches in itsjurisdiction. The pages or data transmissions are then periodicallytransmitted as packets to the local switches 112 within the jurisdictionof the lata switch 114.

[0029] The lata switch 114 is also responsible for collection of pagesoutside its jurisdiction to be broadcast to the local switches 112within its jurisdiction. Packets received from the hub switch 116 aredisassembled, processed, and packetized for transmission to thedestination local switches 112.

[0030] The function of the lata switch 114 in collecting requests forplacing pages or data transmissions in the network or to reprogram thesubscriber file of a local switch 112 by placing a local phone call ontelephone trunk 126 is an important aspect of the network. The lataswitch 114 places the header discussed above, which geographicallyidentifies the lata switch originating the page or data transmission infront of the receiver identification code, in a packet as illustrated inthe message detail of FIG. 6 to enable the local switch 112 todifferentiate between pages or data transmission which are forbroadcast. by the local service 118 associated with a receiving localswitch 112 and pages or data transmission which require access to thesubscriber files to generate one or more pages or data transmissions forbroadcast or for reprogramming a subscriber file. Preferably, the headeris four digits comprised of a country code followed by the telephonearea code identifying the lata switch 114 which received the call forthe originating page or data transmission.

[0031] The hub switch 116 provides the third tier of networkintelligence and serves as an inter-regional communications link. Onehub switch 116 will preferably be located in each international regionto serve as a network routing switch. In the United States, a hub switch116 will be located within the region served by each of the Bellregional companies (RBOC's). Accordingly, in the United States thepreferred implementation of the network 110 includes seven distinct hubswitches 116. Each hub switch 116 in a preferred embodiment can havefifty-five lata switches 114 under its jurisdiction. The hub switch 116also serves as a network routing switch for inter-hub calls when pagesor data transmissions are to continue in the hub-to-hub network.

[0032] When a packet of pages is received from either another hub switch116 or a lata switch 114 within its jurisdiction, the pages or datatransmission are disassembled for examination. Each page or datatransmission is examined for its destination address(es). Adetermination is made if the hub switch 116 should forward the page ordata transmission to one of the six adjacent hub switches or forward thepage or data transmission to a lata switch 114 within its jurisdiction.The pages or data transmissions are then destination processed andpacketized for transmission to either another hub switch 116 or a lataswitch 114 within its jurisdiction.

[0033]FIG. 3 illustrates a memory map of the RAM of a local switch 112.The RAM has four main storage areas which are the subscriber files 154,channel files 156, lata buffers 158 and local buffers 160.

[0034] Each local switch 112 is allocated a capacity of, for example,10,000 subscribers which are identified by a four-digit code stored infield 162 of the subscriber files 154.

[0035] Field 164 stores the subscriber's local telephone number withinthe area code serviced by the lata switch 114 having jurisdiction.

[0036] Field 166 is the subscriber's receiver identification code whichuniquely identifies the subscriber and the receiver 119 of thesubscriber which is to receive pages or data transmissions throughoutthe network 110. The receiver identification number (code) consists of 8digits with the four most significant digits geographically representingthe area serviced by the associated lata switch 114 (country code as themost significant digit followed sequentially by area or city code lessersignificant digits) and the four least significant digits being digitsassigned to identify 10,000 subscribers within the jurisdiction of thelocal switch. The capacity of the network 110 is 100 million subscriberswith the eight digit identification code. The least significant numbersof the identification code define subscribers of a specific local switch112 within the jurisdiction of the lata switch 114.

[0037] Field 168 stores the service options which each subscriber maychoose to have provided by the local service 118. The service optionscontrol the commands, which are used with pages or data transmissionssent to the receivers 119. The main CPU interrogates the particularsubscriber file identified by the identification code inputted with therequest for a page or data transmission by telephone trunks 126 or 128,causes storage of the page or data transmission, determines thedestination(s) of the page or data transmission and the appropriatesystem command to be used to transmit the page or data transmission. Itshould be understood that the service options may be dynamicallyprogrammed through voice prompted communications over the telephonetrunk lines 128 with the local switch 112 and through telephone calls tothe lata switch 114 by trunk 126 as described below.

[0038] The service options are described as follows. The service option“a” is for no service which is a condition when an active subscriberdoes not wish to receive any pages or data transmissions such as mayoccur when the subscriber is on vacation or is otherwise desirous of notbeing reached for a period of time but does not wish to be removed fromthe subscriber base of the system. The service option “b” is for pagesor data transmissions to be broadcast only by the transmitter 115 of thelocal service 118. The service option “c” is for regional service whichis for pages or data transmissions to be broadcast throughout all of thelocal services 118 which are within its lata switch jurisdiction. Theservice option “d” is for national service which is for pages or datatransmissions to be broadcast from the local switch 112 to one or morelata switches 114 other than the lata switch having jurisdiction overthe local switch. While not illustrated, an international service optionmay be added. The service option “e” is for a repeat of pages or datatransmissions for any of the “b”, “c” or “d” service options so that apage or data transmission is broadcast more than once. The serviceoption “f” is for data service which causes the page or datatransmission to be stored in a specified section of the receiver memory.The service option “g” is for external data service which commands thereceiver 119 to output the page or data transmission to the externaldata port of the receiver. This option permits the receiver 119 tosupport peripheral devices such as printers or processors to provide awide range of data services.

[0039] The following additional fields are provided. The fifth field 170is the subscriber's name and the subscriber's specified account number.The sixth field 172 is the subscriber's account number entry forpurposes of interval billing by the local service 118. The seventh field174 is the subscriber's count (local, regional or national) which is atotal of the number of pages or data transmission made in a billingperiod. The eighth field 176 is the total number of data characters sentduring the billing period.

[0040] The ninth field 178 is the destination (area code(s)) of each ofthe pages or data transmissions. For local service, there is no areacode specified. For regional service, the are a code of the associatedlata switch 114 having jurisdiction over the local switch 112 isspecified and for national and international service, one or more areacodes or other geographic identification identifying lata switches otherthan the lata switch having jurisdiction over the local switch arespecified. For international service, a country code may be used toidentify lata switches 114 within a particular country. Any number ofarea codes may be specified but in a preferred embodiment of the network110, three area codes is a maximum number of lata switches 114 which maybe specified as regions to receive pages from the local switch 112.

[0041] The above-referenced description describes the first file of then (10,000) possible subscriber files stored in the subscriber files 154.It should be understood that the other subscriber files have the sameconfiguration. Access to the subscriber file is obtained by a voiceprompted message requiring the inputting of a secret code which ifinputted correctly is followed by voice prompted requests requestingspecification of the information of the subscriber file to be changed.

[0042] The frequency files 156 perform an important function in thenetwork 110. The frequency files 156 contain n possible lata files witheach individual file identifying up to, for example, 15 four-digitnumbers that represent broadcast channels available within the servicearea of a lata switch 114. Thus, each of the individual lata switches114 in the network 110 will have a separate frequency file whichidentifies all of the channels which are available to transmit pages ordata transmissions from the transmitters 115 associated with the localservices 118 under the jurisdiction of that lata switch 114. Thechannels are stored as a four-digit number in a hexadecimal numberingsystem which requires only four digits of space. A file containing allzeros (no channel) will cause an invalid area code message to bereturned to a subscriber attempting to reprogram service areas. Thefrequency files are the source of channels which are utilized by thechannel programming command to program each receiver 119 for operationin each lata switch jurisdiction and the local switch jurisdiction. Forexample, a receiver 119 which is to be serviced by only a single localservice 118 may be programmed to receive only a single or a number ofchannels up to the number of channels used by that local paging service.Furthermore, for regional service or national service, the frequencyfiles 156 are used to program the receiver 119 to receive pages or datatransmissions from the channels used by the local services 118 withinthe designated area codes representative of the service areas servicedby the lata switches 114. Furthermore, if a receiver 119 is to beprogrammed to receive messages in a particular area serviced by a lataswitch 114 as a consequence of the subscriber travelling, the channelprogramming command utilizes the channels stored in the file numbercorresponding to the jurisdiction of the lata switch 114 in the area towhich the subscriber is to travel, to dynamically program the channel(s)which the paging receiver is to receive in that area. For service in alocal region, the frequency files are used as a source of channels to beused by the channel programming command to dynamically shift thechannels on which the paging receiver is to receive a page, to adjustthe channels used in the broadcast area used by the local service 118associated with the local switch 112 based on the amount of traffic oneach channel and to further provide a source of channels which are to beused for specialized services for transmitting particular types ofinformation to particular subscribers such as, but not limited to stockquotations.

[0043] The lata buffers 158 consist of an inbound lata buffer 180 and anoutbound lata buffer 182. The inbound lata buffer 180 functions toreceive pages or data transmissions coded in ASCII which have beenprocessed to strip the X.25 transmission protocol used for transmittingpages from the lata switch 114 to the local switch 112 and convertedfrom the hybrid code described below to ASCII. Pages or datatransmissions which are initially stored in the inbound lata buffer 180are processed for destination and are either for broadcast by theassociated local service 118 in which case they are ultimately stored inthe appropriate identification code buffer 186 which matches the leastsignificant digit of the identification code contained with the page ordata transmission or in the outbound lata buffer 182 if the page or datatransmission originated from one of the lata switches 114 by calling onthe telephone trunk 126 and which has a final destination which isdetermined by the field 178 of the subscriber file 154.

[0044] The local buffers 160 are comprised of an inbound buffer 184 forreceiving all local inbound pages or data transmission which originatefrom the trunk line 128 which is connected to the local switch 112 and aplurality of identification code buffers 186 which are each individuallyassigned to store outbound pages or data transmissions with a particularleast significant identification code digit of the number base used forthe subscriber identification code which are to be transmitted to areceiver 119. All of the received pages or data transmissions from thelocal switch 112 are initially stored in the buffer 184. Each of theindividual identification code buffers 186 stores pages or datatransmissions for broadcast by the local service 118 in batches whichare grouped by the least significant digit of the subscriberidentification code received with the page or data transmission aftersorting by the CPU. In other words, the least significant digit of thesubscriber identification code within a page or data transmission forbroadcast by a local service 118 determines in which of theidentification code buffers 186 the page or data transmission is stored.For example, if the last digit of the identification code of a page ordata transmission for broadcast by the local service 118 ends in thedigit 0, the page or data transmission is stored in the identificationcode buffer identified by “0”.

[0045]FIG. 4 is a memory map of the random access memory of the lataswitch 114. The random access memory has three main areas and twooptional areas. The three main areas are hub buffers 188, local buffers190 and a lata identification code (ID) memory 192. The optional memoryareas are an all call buffer 194 for storing nationwide pages or datatransmissions received from the hub switch 116 which are to betransmitted to all of the local switches 112 under the jurisdiction ofthe lata switch 114 and an all call buffer 196 which stores pages ordata transmissions received from one of the local switches 112 which areto be transmitted to all of the local switches under the jurisdiction ofthe lata switch 114.

[0046] The hub buffers 188 are an outbound hub buffer 198 and an inboundhub buffer 200. The outbound hub buffer 198 stores pages or datatransmissions to be periodically transmitted to the hub switch 116having jurisdiction over the lata switch 114 under the control of theCPU. The inbound hub buffer 200 stores pages or data transmissions whichare periodically received from the associated hub switch 116 via storagein a buffer of the CPU.

[0047] The local buffers 190 are comprised of an inbound local buffer202 which stores groups of inbound pages or data transmissions receivedfrom the local switches 112 and a plurality of outbound local buffers204 each of which store groups of pages or data transmissions which areto be transmitted periodically to a specific one of the local switcheswith a separate outbound local buffer being provided for each of thelocal switches under the jurisdiction of the lata switch 114. The CPUprocesses each of the pages or data transmission which is received inthe inbound buffers 200 and 202 by destination and causes storage in theoutbound buffers 198 and 204 which is associated with the destination ofthe page or data transmission.

[0048] The lata identification code memory 192 stores the. subscriberidentification numbers of all of the subscribers which are associatedwith each of the local switches 112 within its jurisdiction. The lataidentification code memory 192 is used for determining the local switch112 which stores a subscriber file of the subscriber used for pages ordata transmission which are inputted to the system from a direct call bytelephone trunk 126 to a lata switch 114 or from a direct call bytelephone trunk 126 to a lata switch by a subscriber to program thereception area of pages or data transmissions by changing thedestination 178 of' the pages or data transmissions. The lataidentification code memory 192 may be organized by subscriberidentification codes which are within the jurisdiction of each localswitch 112 so that the matching of an identification code of a page ordata' transmission inputted to the lata switch 114 in the lataidentification code memory 192 provides the location of the particularlocal switch which stores the subscriber file 154 of that subscriber.

[0049] In order to avoid having to provide additional storage space ineach of the outbound local-buffers 204, the optional all call buffer 194may be provided to store a single page or data transmission, receivedfrom the hub switch 116 having jurisdiction over the lata switch 114,which is to be transmitted to each of the local switches 112. Similarly,the optional all call buffer 196 may be provided for receiving pages ordata transmissions from an individual local switch 112 which are to betransmitted to all of the local switches within the jurisdiction of thelata switch 114.

[0050] For pages, data transmissions or requests to reprogram thesubscriber file 154 which are made to a lata switch 114 over telephonetrunk 126 which require access to a subscriber file outside thejurisdiction of the lata switch, the CPU forms a page or datatransmission contained in a packet having an area destination identifiedby the four most significant digits of the identification code inputtedto the lata switch 114 preceded by the identification code of thereceiver 119 to receive the page or data transmission, preceded by thegeographical area identification of the lata switch receiving the callto originate a page or data transmission or to program the subscriberfile which is transmitted by the network 110 to the specified areadestination. For pages or data transmissions to be billed to subscribersstored in the subscriber file 154 of a local switch 112 within thejurisdiction of the lata switch 114 or requests to program thesubscriber file 154, the CPU forms a packet having an area destinationof the local switch 112 within its jurisdiction which stores thesubscriber identification code as determined by interrogation of thelata identification code buffer 192 by the CPU. The ultimate destinationof a page or data transmission is determined by the destination field178 of the subscriber file 154 matching the identification code of thereceiver 119 either within or outside the jurisdiction of the lataswitch that is called in over telephone trunk 126. The local switch 112containing the subscriber file 154 creates the one or more pages or datatransmissions in accordance with the information in the subscriber fileincluding the adding of destination(s) and the appropriate command.Transmission of the pages or data transmissions created by the localswitch 112 in response to a call to a lata switch 114 is identical tothe transmission of pages or data transmissions originating at the localswitch 112 by the placing of a telephone call on telephone trunk 128. Inthe case of requesting programming of the subscriber's file 154, thecaller must in response to a voice prompted message enter a four-digitsecret identification code to obtain access to the subscriber file withvoice prompted messages being supplied under the control of the CPU tocontrol the input of programming information from the subscriber. Torequest a page or data transmission by calling the lata switch 114, thecaller will receive a voice prompted message to enter the subscriberidentification code and then the appropriate page or data transmission.

[0051]FIG. 5 is a memory map of the random access memory of the hubswitch 116. The hub switch memory map is comprised of four main partswhich are hub buffers 206, lata buffers 208, lata code tables 210 andhub routing codes 212. The hub buffers 206 are comprised of a pluralityof inbound hub buffers 214 which correspond in number to the number ofother hub switches 116 in the network 110 which have direct connectionto the hub switch and a corresponding number of outbound hub buffers216. The individual inbound hub buffers 214 each store pages or datatransmissions received from one of the hub switches 116 with pages ordata transmissions received from each adjacent hub switch 116 beingstored in only a single one of the. inbound hub buffers 214. Similarly,pages or data transmissions which are to be transmitted to another hubswitch 116 are stored in the outbound buffer 216 which is associatedwith the destination hub switch to which they are being transmitted withall pages or data transmissions which are to be routed to a single hubswitch being stored in a corresponding one of the outbound hub buffers216 with a separate hub buffer being associated with each hub switch towhich pages or data transmissions are directly transmitted. The latabuffers 208 are comprised of a plurality of inbound lata buffers 218which correspond to the number of lata switches 114 under thejurisdiction of the hub switch 116. The inbound lata buffers 218 storeall of the pages or data transmissions received from the lata switches114 under the jurisdiction of the hub switch 116. The outbound latabuffers 220 correspond in number to the lata switches 114 under thejurisdiction of the hub switch 116 with a separate lata buffer beingassociated with each of the lata switches. The outbound lata buffers 220store groups of pages or data transmissions to be periodicallytransmitted to their associated lata switch 114. Pages or datatransmissions which are stored in the inbound hub buffers 214 areprocessed by destination by the CPU and stored in either the outboundhub buffer 216, which is the destination of the pages or datatransmissions not to be received by a lata switch 114 under thejurisdiction of the hub switch 116, or in one or more of the outboundlata buffers 220 if the destination of the packets received from anotherhub switch 116 is a lata switch under the jurisdiction of the hubswitch. The CPU also processes the pages or data transmissions stored inthe inbound lata buffers 218 according to their destination and causestheir storage in either the outbound hub buffers 216 if the pages ordata transmissions are to be sent to a lata switch 114 outside of thejurisdiction of the hub switch 116 or to one or more of the outboundlata switches 220 if the pages or data transmissions are to be receivedby one or more lata switches 114 under the jurisdiction of the hubswitch 116.

[0052] The lata code tables 210 store each of the lata (telephone areaor other geographic identifier) codes 222 under the jurisdiction of thehub switch 116 which are utilized by the comparison performed by the CPUwith the pages or data transmissions stored in the inbound hub buffers214 and inbound lata buffers 218 to determine in which of the outboundhub buffers 216 or outbound lata buffers 220 the pages or datatransmissions should be stored. Each separate lata code 222 correspondsto the geographical identification of the lata switch 114 which in thepreferred embodiment is the telephone area code of a lata switch'sjurisdiction.

[0053] The routing codes 212 determine the transmission routes to otherhub switches on a priority basis to which a packet should be sent whichare not intended for a lata switch 114 within the jurisdiction of' thehub switch 116. It should be understood that a number of factors may beconsidered in choosing the priority of a route to be used to transmit apacket from one hub switch 116 to another hub switch. It would appear onfirst analysis that a direct first hub switch to second hub switch routewould be best but often the switching overhead of routing a packetthrough one or more intermediate switches is more than compensated forby the efficiency of a route having one or more intermediate hubswitches by adding additional pages or data transmissions to the packetwhich are inputted to the one or more intermediate hub switch(es) to thepackets being transmitted to the second hub switch. The CPU compares thedestination of the groups of pages or data transmissions stored in theinbound hub buffers 214 and the inbound lata buffers 218 to determine ifthese pages or data transmissions should be routed to another hub switch116. The hub routing codes 212 are referred to by default when a matchis not found by the CPU in comparing the destination of the pages ordata transmissions stored in the inbound hub buffers 214 and inboundlata buffers 218 with the codes stored in the lata code tables 210. Eachpage or data transmission stored in the inbound hub buffer 214 andinbound lata buffers 218 is processed by destination by the CPU andcaused to be stored in the outbound buffers 216 and 220 which correspondto its destination. Each individual hub routing code contains the hubswitch destination priorities for pages or data transmissions to be sentto a single lata switch 114 outside the jurisdiction of the hub switch116. For example, for the lata switch 114 having jurisdiction over areacode 312, the hub routing code 234 determines the priorities indescending order from the highest priority to the lowest priority suchthat the highest priority hub would be #1 followed by #2-#6.

[0054]FIG. 6 illustrates a preferred transmission protocol to be usedfor transmitting packets between switches. The protocol which is used isa modified X.25 protocol. As illustrated, each packet contains fiveseparate layers. The first layer is the destination telephone numberwhich is the receiving port to receive the page or data transmission.With reference to FIG. 2 if a packet of X.25 formatted pages or datatransmissions were to be sent from a first lata switch 114 to itsassociated hub switch 116 over communication path 120, the destinationtelephone number would be the telephone number of the hub switch. Itshould be further understood that the X25 transmission protocol asdescribed herein may be utilized with other types of communicationmediums between switches such that a destination telephone number may bereplaced with another form of address of the receiving switch. Thesecond layer indicates the packet size field in terms of succeedinglayers of information. In the present case levels 3, 4 and 5 areprovided which dictates that the packet size would store the number 3 toindicate the subsequently lower third, fourth and fifth layers. Thethird layer contains an origination switch address and a destinationswitch address which can be either telephone numbers or real addresseswithin the network 110. The fourth layer is the number of pages or datatransmissions which are contained in a packet. As illustrated, thisnumber may be any integer n. The fifth layer is one or more pages ordata transmissions which each correspond to an individual page or datatransmission to be sent to a particular receiver 119.

[0055] Each message includes the following information. In accordancewith standard X.25 protocol, a beginning of file header is included.Following the beginning of file header is a receiver I.D. code which isthe identification code of the destination receiver which is identicalto the subscriber identification code stored in the subscriber files 154of the subscriber to receive the page or data transmission. Followingthe I.D. code is the destination(s) of the page or data transmissionwhich is geographically descriptive of the area to which the page ordata transmission is to be transmitted and is added by the local switch112 interrogating the destination field 178 of FIG. 3. In the preferredembodiment, the destination is a combination of country and area code asutilized by the. telephone system to identify the area to which the pageor data transmission is destined. For each country, the same countrycode will be used so that if the system 110 as illustrated in FIG. 1were to be utilized for the United States, the first digit of thedestination would be a 1. Similarly, the destinations in other countrieswould be followed by different numbers identifying those countriesfollowed by code which breaks up the identified country into smallergeographic regions. It should be understood that a destination which isnot based on the telephone system is equally. The field of specialcommands are the system commands which are transmitted with each page ordata transmission to a receiver. The “page” or “data transmission” isthe part which is to be displayed to the bearer of the receiver 119 andmay be numeric or. alphanumeric characters. The end of the file and filesize information are part of a standard X.25 protocol.

[0056]FIG. 7 illustrates an interconnection between a paging receiver(left side) in accordance with the above-referenced receiver patents anda printer (right side) which has been offered for sale by TelefindCorporation of Coral Gables, Florida. The “EXTERNAL ANTENNA” pin is forconnection only to an external antenna and connects the RF signal fromthe external antenna to the receiver internal antenna. The “LINK” pin isdetected by the printer to determine if the receiver 119 is connected ornot. If the receiver is not connected when peripheral power is on, thenthe CPU of the printer will detect that the “LINK” pin is high.Otherwise the “LINK” pin will be low. The pin “EXTERNAL BUZZER” outputsa 2KHz trigger signal when a page or data transmission is received. The“EXTERNAL BUZZER” pin also outputs the 2KHz trigger signal when displayof a message is complete. The pin “PRG VCC” is supplied 5 volt power bythe attached printer to provide power to the receiver 119 whether thepager is powered or not. The “GROUND” pin is ground for the printer andreceiver 119. The pin “BUSY” is pulled high by the printer if theprinter is too busy to handle input data bits on the “PRTDATA” pin ofthe receiver 119. The “PRTDATA” pin is the data output from the receiver119 to the printer. Serial data bits are fed to the printer to drive theprinter to generate text corresponding to the data bits. The “DIS AUDIO”pin provides external audio which may be the X.25 modified protocol ofFIG. 6 encoded into audio tones which modulate the channel carrier onwhich information is received by the receiver 119. When the “DIS AUDIO”pin is high, it indicates that the display button is pressed. The memoryof the receiver 119 stores the text to be printed by the printer. Thetext is downloaded through the aforementioned interconnection uponconnection to the printer to generate a hard copy of the text stored inthe memory.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

[0057] The present invention provides an integration of an electronicmail system with an RF information transmission network for transmittingelectronic mail originating at processors either within or outside anelectronic mail system by RF communication to at least one destinationprocessor within an electronic mail system by a RF receiver whichtransfers the information to the destination processor and method of usethereof. The RF receiver stores the received information which is to betransferred to the destination processor. Storage in the RF receivermemory permits the reception of the information without a connection ofthe RF receiver to the destination processor thus eliminating therequirement that the destination processor is turned on and carried withthe user of the destination processor. In a typical application with aportable PC functioning as the destination processor, it is importantthat reception of the information by the RF receiver does not requirethe drawing of power from the PC battery. The RF receiver automaticallytransfers the information to the destination processor upon connectionof the RF receiver to the destination processor. The destinationprocessor may be within the same electronic mail system containing theoriginating processor which originated the information or anotherelectronic mail' system. While a preferred application of the inventionis with portable destination processors, it should be understood thatthe originating and destination processors may be at a fixed site orportable. The use of the RF receiver to receive electronic mail permitsfixed site destination processors to receive electronic mail withoutcalling the electronic mail system as in' the prior art by using thestorage of the RF receiver which may be carried on the user of thedestination processor either within an office or other site or fortravel. The RF receiver provides the automatic storage of electronicmail and review of its content without interaction with the destinationprocessor. The stored messages may be transferred at a later timeautomatically without manually keying the message which is an importantconsideration in using portable PC's. The problems of the prior art indelivering electronic mail to destination processors within anelectronic mail system which are being exacerbated by the increasingportability of personal computers and the absence of a current systemfor delivering electronic mail between electronic mail systems areovercome by the present invention.

[0058] The present invention transmits electronic mail from anoriginating processor to at least one destination processor through aninterface switch. The interface switch connects an electronic mailsystem and/or at least one additional processor to an RF datatransmission network which transmits the information to a RF receiverwhich is connectable to the destination processor to transfer thereceived RF message from the RF receiver to the destination processor.

[0059] The invention is user friendly in that the minimum amount ofinformation which must be provided to initiate the transmission ofelectronic mail from an originating processor to at least onedestination processor is an identification of the destination processorand information indicating that the message is to be sent by the RFinformation transmission network. The inputting of information that theinformation is to be sent by the RF information transmission network maybe simplified to the extent that an icon driven display associated withthe originating processor, such as a mouse, may be used to point to anicon of a radio receiver. Alternatively, an identification of theaddress of the interface switch through which the information istransmitted to the RF transmission network may be inputted by theoperator or a machine operating the originating processor. Finally theentering of the destination processor identified in terms such as theuser's name may be entered which is compared with a look up table todetermine if a match exists. If a match exists, the matchedidentification of the destination processor supplies an address of theinterface switch and an identification of an RF receiver to receive theinformation and transfer the information to the destination processor.The inputting of the destination processor in terms such as the user'sname to an originating processor may be used by the destinationprocessor, gateway switch or addressed interface switch to look up anidentification number of the RF receiver within the RF informationtransmission network which is connectable to the destination processorwhich is added to the information for use by the RF informationtransmission network. The electronic mail system or the interface switchmay append the identification number of the RF receiver to receive theinformation which is utilized by the RF information transmission networkto determine the final destination of the RF receiver to which themessage is broadcast by the RF information transmission network. Theappending of the identification number of the RF receiver to theinformation to be broadcast to the destination processor may be inputtedby an operator of the originating processor, added to the information bya comparison of the identification of the destination processor tostored identifications of destination processors stored by theoriginating processor to which RF messages are to be broadcast by the RFinformation transmission network to identify the identification numberof the RF receiver in the RE information transmission network, or by agateway switch in the electronic mail system or the interface switchbetween the electronic mail system and the RF information transmissionnetwork.

[0060] The intelligence for determining the identification number of theRF receiver to receive the information is less expensive and operatesmost efficiently when placed within the interface switch where theaforementioned matching may be produced without requiring modificationof either individual originating processors within the electronic mailsystem or gateway switches within the electronic mail system which haveadditional functions for supporting other conventional aspects ofelectronic mail. However, the determination of an identification numberof the RF receiver which transfers the information to the destinationprocessor may be located anywhere between the originating processor andthe RF information transmission network for practicing the presentinvention. Similarly, the appending of the address of the interfaceswitch to which the information is transmitted by the electronic mailsystem for entry into the RF information transmission network forbroadcast to the RF receiver for transferring to the destinationprocessor may be located within any one of the originating processor,gateway switch or interface switch.

[0061] An electronic mail system for transmitting information from oneof a plurality of originating processors to at least one of a pluralityof destination processors in accordance with the invention includes atleast one gateway switch, a gateway switch storing information receivedfrom one of the at least one originating processor prior to transmissionof the information to the at least one destination processor; an RFinformation transmission network for transmitting stored informationreceived from one of the at least one gateway switch by RF transmissionto at least one destination processor; at least one interface switch, aninterface switch connecting a gateway switch to the RF informationtransmission network and transmitting stored information received fromone of the at least one gateway switch to the RF informationtransmission network; and wherein the information is transmitted to areceiving interface switch by the electronic mail system in response toan address of the receiving interface switch which has been added to theinformation originated by the originating processor by either theoriginating processor or gateway switch and the information istransmitted from the receiving interface switch to the RF informationtransmission network with an address of the destination processor toreceive the information which has been added by either the originatingprocessor, a gateway switch or the receiving interface switch. Thedestination processors may be transported during operation by a user.The receiving interface switch removes information added by theelectronic mail system to the information originated by the originatingprocessor from the stored information received from one of the at leastone gateway switch and adds information used by the RF informationtransmission network during transmission of the information to theinformation originated by the originating processor to an RF receiver inthe RF information transmission network which receives the informationand transfers the information originated by the originating processor tothe destination processor. The RF receiver may be detached from thedestination processor during reception of the information with a memoryof the RF receiver storing the information. Storage in memory permitsreview of the information prior to transferring the information to thedestination processor by connection the RF receiver to the destinationprocessor. The address of the destination processor is preferably anidentification of a RF receiver in the RF information transmissionnetwork which receives the information and relays it to the destinationprocessor.

[0062] The receiving interface switch stores information which has beenstored by at least one gateway switch that is received from a pluralityof originating processors, assembles the information from a plurality oforiginating processors into a packet and transmits the packet to the RFinformation transmission network. The RF information transmissionnetwork comprises a switch which receives the packet from the receivinginterface switch and disassembles the packet into information from theplurality of originating processors. The RF information transmissionnetwork transmits the disassembled information, including theidentification number of the RF receiver, to a switch in the RFinformation transmission network storing a file identified by theidentification number and any destination of the RF receiver in the RFinformation transmission network to which the information andidentification number is to be transmitted by the RF informationtransmission network. The switch adds any destination of the RF receiverto the information and the RF information transmission network inresponse to any added destination transmits the information andidentification number to the destination for RF broadcast to the RFreceiver for relaying to the destination processor.

[0063] The electronic mail system also transmits information between anoriginating processor and at least one destination processor througheither a public switch or a private switch telephone network withouttransmission by the RF information transmission network. The destinationprocessor is addressed by a different address during transmission to thedestination processor when using the public or private switch telephonenetwork than during transmission by the RF information transmissionnetwork.

[0064] The RF receiver is connectable to the destination processor andin response to connection of the RF receiver to the destinationprocessor the RF receiver transfers information stored in a memory ofthe RF receiver received from the originating processor to thedestination processor. The number of originating processors is greaterthan a number of interface switches. The plurality of originatingprocessors also function as destination processors with a RF receivercoupled thereto.

[0065] The address of the receiving interface switch may be added to theinformation originated by the originating processor by a gateway switch.The address of the receiving interface switch may be added by thegateway switch by matching an identification of the destinationprocessor such as a name of a user of the destination processor with astored identification of a destination processor and adding an addressof an interface switch stored with the matched identification of thedestination processor to the information as the address of the receivinginterface switch.

[0066] The address of the receiving interface switch may also be addedby the originating processor. The address of the receiving interfaceswitch may be added by an inputting of the address of the receivinginterface switch along with an identification of the destinationprocessor by an operator or a machine using the originating processor orby matching an identification of the destination processor, such as thename of the user, with a stored identification of a destinationprocessor and adding an address of an interface switch stored with thematched identification of the destination processor to the informationas the address of the receiving interface switch.

[0067] The address of the destination processor, which preferably is anidentification number of a RF receiver receiving the information andtransferring the information to the destination processor, may be addedto the information originated by the originating processor by anoperator or a machine using the originating processor. Theidentification number may also be added to the information originated bythe originating processor by matching an identification of thedestination processor, such as a user of the destination processor, witha stored identification of a destination processor and adding anidentification number stored with the matched identification of thedestination processor to the information as the identification number.

[0068] The address of the destination processor may also be added to theinformation originated by the originating processor by the gatewayswitch. The identification number may be added by the gateway switch bymatching an identification of the destination processor, such as a nameof a user of the destination processor, with a stored identification ofa destination processor and adding an identification number stored withthe matched identification of the destination processor to theinformation as the identification number.

[0069] The address of the destination processor may also be added to theinformation originated by the originating processor by the receivinginterface switch. The identification number may be added by thereceiving interface switch to the information originated by theoriginating processor by matching an identification of the destinationprocessor, such as a name of a user of a destination processor, with astored identification of the destination processor and adding anidentification number stored with the matched identification of thedestination processor to the information as the identification number.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0070]FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art electronic mail system.

[0071]FIG. 2 illustrates a prior art paging system used by the presentinvention.

[0072]FIG. 3 illustrates a memory map of the local switch of the priorart paging system of FIG. 2.

[0073]FIG. 4 illustrates a memory map of a lata switch of the prior artpaging system of FIG. 2.

[0074]FIG. 5 illustrates a memory map of a hub switch of the prior artpaging system of FIG. 2.

[0075]FIG. 6 illustrates a message format utilized by, the prior artpaging system of FIG. 2.

[0076]FIG. 7 illustrates a prior art connection between a receiver inthe paging system of FIG. 2 and a printer.

[0077]FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of a system in accordance withthe present invention.

[0078]FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of the connection of aplurality of electronic mail systems through a plurality of interfaceswitches to an input port of an RE information transmission networkutilized by the present invention.

[0079]FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of the transmission ofinformation originating from an plurality of electronic mail systems toa RE information transmission network to a plurality' of destinationprocessors and originating processors within a plurality of electronicmail systems in accordance with the present invention.

[0080]FIG. 11 illustrates possible distributed functions for performingdata processing steps necessary to transmit information from anoriginating processor to a destination processor using RE transmissionu1l accordance with the present invention.

[0081]FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an interface switch in accordancewith the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0082] FIGS. 8-10 illustrate a block diagram of an electronic mailsystem 100 which has been integrated with an RF information transmissionnetwork 302 for transmitting information from an originating processorwithin the electronic mail system to a destination processor within theelectronic mail system utilizing RF communications in accordance withthe present invention. Like reference numerals identify like parts inFIGS. 1-10 and 12. The integrated system 100 differs from the prior artof FIGS. 1-7 in that the originating processor, which may be any of theprocessors within computing systems #1-#N is provided the option oftransmitting electronic mail (information) to at least one destinationprocessor which may be any processor A-N within the processing systems#I-#N by means of an RF information transmission network 302 asdescribed below. It should be understood that the present invention isnot limited to the block diagram form of FIGS. 8-10 and 12.Additionally, the communications between the originating processors,gateway switches 14 and destination processors may be through either apublic or private switch telephone network 314 and are not limited toany type of telephone system interconnection. The RF informationtransmission network 302 functions to transmit the information whichoriginated from one of the originating processor A-N within any of thecomputing systems #l-#N to the destination processor A-N within any ofthe computing systems #1-#N by an RF transmission to an RF receiver 119.The RF receiver 119 is connected to the destination processor with thesame connections as illustrated in the prior art of FIG. 7. When the RFreceiver 119 is connected to the Safari™ computer, the connection ispowered by the Safari computer. Upon connection, the receiver 119 relaysthe information from the RF receiver to the destination processor. Animportant aspect of the present invention is that reception and reviewof electronic mail can be performed without connection of the RFreceiver 119 to the destination processor A-N which permits the receiverto function as a mobile electronic mail receiver. As a result, the usermay move from the site of the destination processor A-N either within anoffice or other location or during travel while receiving electronicmail which was not possible with the prior art. Furthermore, theconnection of the RF receiver 119 to the destination processorautomatically transfers the electronic mail stored within the memory ofthe RF receiver to the destination processor without manual keyboarding.A computer program for controlling the transfer of information from thereceiver 119 to a SAFARI™ laptop computer of AT&T Corporation iscontained within the attached Appendix at pages 1-9. This programautomatically provides transfer of the stored electronic mail storedwithin the memory of the RF receiver 119 into the destination processorA-N where it is accessible to application programs within thedestination processor. As a result, the deficiencies of the prior art inrequiring substantial expense consequent from the making of telephonecalls. substantial labor resultant from the lost time of persons makingtelephone calls and the inability to deliver electronic mail messagesand the more difficult problem of delivering electronic mail messages toportable processors is overcome. Moreover, as is explained in detailbelow in conjunction with FIG. 11, the initiation of an informationtransmission from an originating processor A-N to a destinationprocessor. A-N using an RF transmission by the RF informationtransmission network 302 to an individual receiver has many differentoptions which are user friendly. The initiation of the transmission ofinformation from an originating processor A-N to a destination processorA-N using RF transmission by the RF information transmission network 302only requires the identification of an address of the RF receiver, whichpreferably is the identification number of the receiver 119 in the RFinformation transmission network and the designation of an address of aninterface switch in the form of an address such a “TF MOBOX” whichconnects the electronic mail system to the RF information transmissionnetwork as described below in conjunction with FIGS. 9 and 10. Theinitiator of an electronic mail message, in the most user friendly formof the invention, is only required to input into the originatingprocessor A-N an identification of the destination processor A-N whichtypically is in the form of a name such as “John Doe”. The distributedintelligence of the system implementing the present invention, which maybe located in any one of the originating processors A-N, gateway switch14 or interface switch 304 or distributed therebetween as describedbelow with reference to FIG. 11, may be used to add the necessaryaddress of the interface switch connecting the electronic mail system1-N to the RF information transmission network 302 and theidentification of the RF receiver 119 in the information transmissionnetwork from the inputting of only an identification of the destinationprocessor A-N. The addition of the identification number of the RFreceiver 119 and the address of the interface switch may be implementedby the originating processor A-N of one of the computing systems #1-#N,a gateway switch 14 or an interface switch 304 as described below withreference to FIG. 9.

[0083]FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of the connection between aplurality of' gateway switches with mailboxes 14 in different electronicmail systems to the RF information transmission network 302. It shouldbe understood that multiple gateway switches with mailboxes 14 from asingle electronic mail system 1-N may be connected to each interfaceswitch 304 instead of the connection of a single gateway switch withmailbox to a single interface switch as illustrated. A plurality ofinterface switches 304 connect information transmitted from at least oneelectronic mail system as illustrated in FIG. 8. Optionally, a pluralityof electronic mail systems 1-N each as illustrated in FIG. 8 areconnected to a data input port of the RF information transmission systemwhich is preferably hub switch 116 of the prior art paging networkdescribed above with reference to FIGS. 2-6. The dotted linecommunication paths 306 illustrate optional information transmissions inwhich information from a plurality of different electronic mail systemsis concentrated at a single interface switch 304. The dotted linecommunication paths 307 illustrate connections to additional gatewayswitches with mailboxes 14 within electronic mail systems 1-N.

[0084] The function of the interface switches 304 is twofold. In thefirst place, the interface switches 304 function as a security check todetermine that information transmissions originating from a gatewayswitch with mailbox 14 represent transmissions which should be coupledto a hub switch 116 of the RF information transmission network 302. Thesecurity check is performed by the interface switch 304 comparing theidentification number of the RF receiver 119 which has been added byeither an originating processor A-N or a gateway switch with mailboxes14 with permissible identification numbers or the interface switchperforming the addition of the identification number. The interfaceswitch 304 also removes information added by the electronic mail system1-N to the information originated by the originating processor A-N fromthe stored information received from one of the gateway switches 14 andadds information used by the RF information transmission network 302during transmission of the information originated at the originatingprocessor to a RF receiver 119 in the RF information transmissionnetwork 302 which receives the information and transfers it to thedestination processor A-N. Additionally, the interface switch 304encodes data, which is required to format the display of the CRT of thedestination processor for the electronic mail system to which thedestination processor is connected, in the form of a character orcharacters which are decoded by either the RF receiver 119 or thedestination processor A-N and added in decoded form back to theinformation which is processed by the destination processor with aformat of the electronic mail system to which the destination processorA-N is connected.

[0085] The interface switches 304 function to store information whichhas been stored by at least one gateway switch 114 that is received froma plurality of originating processors, assemble the information from aplurality of originating processors into a packet preferably having theformat of that described above with reference to the prior art in FIG. 6and transmit the packet to the hub switch 116 within the RF informationtransmission network 302. While the invention is not limited to thetransmission of the packets from the interface switch 304 to the hubswitch 116 of the RF information transmission system 302, the hub switchis the preferable node in the RF information transmission network towhich communications from the gateway switches 14 should be transmittedas a consequence of it having jurisdiction over both lata switches 114and the local switches 112 in the RF information transmission networkwhich results in lesser network overhead.

[0086] The hub switch 116 receives the packet from the receivinginterface switch 304 and disassembles the packet into information fromthe plurality of originating processors either within a singleelectronic mail system such as system 1 or from a plurality ofelectronic mail systems, such as systems 1-N, or from outside of anyelectronic mail system from at least one additional processor 312 whichis connected directly to interface switch 304 to originate informationto be transmitted to a destination processor A-N in an electronic mailsystem as described below. The RF information transmission network 302transmits the disassembled information from the hub switch 116 includingthe identification number of the RF receiver 119 transferringinformation to the destination processor A-N to a local switch 112storing the file 154 identified by the identification number and anydestination 178 of the RF receiver in the RF information transmissionnetwork to which the information and identification number is to betransmitted by the RF information transmission network and adds anydestination of the RF receiver to the information in accordance with theprior art system described above with reference to FIGS. 2-6. The RFinformation transmission network in response to any added destinationtransmits the information and identification number to the destinationin accordance with the prior art system described above with referenceto FIGS. 2-6 for RF broadcast to the RF receiver 119 for transferring tothe destination processor A-N.

[0087] The information is transmitted to a receiving interface switch304 from one or more gateway switches 14 by one or more electronic mailsystems 1-N in response to an address of the receiving interface switchwhich has been added to the information originated by the originatingprocessor by either the originating processor or gateway switch. Theinformation is transmitted from the receiving interface switch 304 tothe RF information transmission network with an address of thedestination processor, such as a name of a user of the destinationprocessor A-N, to receive the information which has been added by eitherthe originating processor A-N, a gateway switch 14 or the receivinginterface switch 304.

[0088] Various options exist for the adding of the address of thereceiving interface switch and the address of the destination processor.Preferably, the address of the receiving interface switch is a codeword, such as “TF-MOBOX”, which is recognized throughout the electronicmail system when appended to information as directing the information tobe transmitted to the interface switch 304. The address of thedestination processor is preferably the identification number of the RFreceiver 119 within the RF information transmission network 302. Theaddress of the receiving interface switch may be added to theinformation originated by the originating processor, by a gateway switch14 or by the originating processor A-N. The address of the receivinginterface switch 304 may be added to the information by matching anidentification of the destination processor A-N which may be the name ofthe individual utilizing the processor or some other information andadds an address of an interface switch such as the aforementioned“TF-MOBOX” stored with the matched identification of the destinationprocessor to the information as the address of the receiving interfaceswitch. Alternatively, the originating processor may be used to add theaddress of the receiving interface switch 14 by an inputting of theaddress of the receiving interface switch (TF-MOBOX) along with anidentification of the destination processor A-N (name of recipient usingthe processor). The originating processor A-N may also add the addressof the receiving interface switch 304 by matching an identification ofthe destination processor (name of the user of the processor) with astored identification of a destination processor and adding an addressof the interface switch (TF-MOBOX) stored with the matchedidentification of the destination processor to the information as theaddress of the receiving interface switch. The identification number maybe added to the information originated by the originating processor or,alternatively, may be added by the originating processor by matching anidentification or the destination processor (the name of the user of theprocessor) with a stored identification of a destination processor (theauthorized user of the destination processor) and adding anidentification number stored with the matched identification of thedestination processor to the information as the identification number ofthe RF receiver 119. Alternatively, the aforementioned matching processmay be performed by either the gateway switch 14 or the interface switch304.

[0089] The at least one additional processor 312 originates informationfrom outside of any electronic mail system. The processors 312 providean address of at least one destination processor in an electronic mailsystem, such as the name of the user, to receive information transmittedby the RF information transmission system 302 or an identificationnumber of the RF receiver 119 receiving information and transferring theinformation to the destination processor. The interface switch 304 whichreceives the information from each processor 312 adds information usedby the RF information transmission network 302 during transmission ofthe information to the RF receiver 119 receiving the information in thesame manner as described above with respect to the interface switch 304.

[0090] The advantage of connecting the processors 312 directly to theinterface switch 304 is that the processors 312 are only required tohave a telephone modem and support programming to format information forRF transmission to a destination processor A-N within any one of one ormore electronic mail systems 1-N. The processors 312 are not required tohave the necessary electronic mail system software present inoriginating processors A-N or interconnections with an electronic mailsystem. As a result of the connection to the interface switch 304,information originating from the additional processors 312 may betransmitted by RE transmission to a destination processor A-N within anyone or a plurality of electronic mail systems with the user of theprocessor 312 or the processor 312 or the interface switch 304 onlyhaving to supply an identification number of the receiver 119 to inputinformation into the RF information transmission system 302 for RFtransmission to a destination processor.

[0091] The difference between originating information by one of theadditional processors 312 outside of any electronic mail system andoriginating information by one of the processors within one of theelectronic mail systems is that the direct connection of the additionalprocessor to the interface switch 304 eliminates the requirement for theadding of an address of the interface switch 304 which is required bythe electronic mail systems to forward the information to the interfaceswitch where necessary formatting of the information to be compatiblewith the RF information transmission system is performed. The interfaceswitch 304 packetizes information originating from the additionalprocessors 312 in the same manner as described above with respect toinformation originating from within an electronic mail system.Information from within an electronic mail system and originating fromadditional processors 312 outside of the electronic mail system may beformatted into the same packets which are forwarded to the hub switch116. Additionally, an interface switch 304 may be connected only to theadditional processors 312 to provide an interface only for processorsoutside of any electronic mail system to destination processors A-Nwithin one or more electronic mail systems 1-N. The only informationwhich is necessary to be inputted by the additional processors 312 isthe address of the destination processor (user of the processor). Theaddition of the identification number of the receiver 119 may be addedby matching of an identification of the destination processor withstored destination processors within the additional processor 312 or theinterface switch 304 with an identification number of the receiver 119stored with an identification of a destination processor A-N used as anidentification of the destination processor upon a match having beenmade.

[0092]FIG. 11 summarizes electronic mail message entry methods formessages (information) originating from originating processors within anelectronic mail system. The first entry method adds the address of theinterface switch 304 and the destination processor preferably in theform of a user's name; the gateway switch 14 takes no action; and theinterface switch 304 adds the identification number of the RF receiver119. The second entry method adds the address of the interface switch304 and the identification number of the receiver 119; the gatewayswitch 14 takes no action; and the interface switch 304 performs onlythe function of verifying that the identification number which was addedby the originating processor is a valid identification number within theRF information transmission network 302. In the third method, theoriginating processor adds the destination processor preferably in theform of the user's name; the gateway switch adds the destination of theinterface switch 304; and the interface switch 304 adds theidentification of the receiver 119. In the fourth method, theoriginating processor adds the destination processor preferably in theform of the user's name only; the gateway switch 14 adds an address ofthe. interface switch 304 and the identification number of the receiver119; and the interface switch takes no action other than verificationthat the identification number of the receiver 119 added by the gatewayswitch 14 is valid. In the fifth method, the operator of the originatingprocessor adds the destination processor, points to an icon displayed ona CRT associated with the originating processor and the originatingprocessor adds the address of the interface switch 304; the gatewayswitch 14 adds the identification number of the receiver 119 and theinterface switch 304 takes no action other than verification. In thesixth method, the operator of the originating processor adds thedestination processor, the user of the originating processor points toan icon displayed by a CRT associated with the originating processorwhich causes the addition of the address of the interface switch 304;the gateway switch takes no action and the interface switch 304 adds theidentification of the receiver 119. In the seventh method, the operatorof the originating processor adds the destination processor, the userpoints to an icon displayed on a CRT associated with the originatingprocessor causing the addition of the address of the interface switch304 and the receiver identification number by comparing anidentification of the destination processor, such as user name of thedestination processor, to an identification of destination processorswith. identification numbers or RF receivers 119 transfer relayinformation to the destination processor; the gateway switch 14 takes noaction; and the interface switch 304 takes no action.

[0093]FIG. 12 illustrates a block diagram of an interface switch 304 inaccordance with the present invention. The interface switch 304 has amain CPU 400 to which is connected a floppy drive 402 and a hard drive404 for providing memory storage for use by the CPU in executing thevarious functions of the interface switch as described above. Theprogram on pages 10-12 of the Appendix implements the function of theinterface switch 304 in a 3B2 computer which interfaced with theTelefind Corporation data transmission network described in theabove-referenced patents and the AT&T Corporation electronic mailsystem. A diagnostic and maintenance port 406 is connected to the CPU inaccordance with standard practice. A main bus 408 is coupled to aplurality of serial ports 410 which are connected in series with amultispeed modem 412 which is connected to one of the additionalprocessors 312 as discussed above with reference to FIG. 9, to at leastone gateway switch with mailboxes 14 in at least one electronic mailsystem and to a plurality of network ports which are connected to aplurality of X.25 modems 414 which are connected in series with anetwork port 416 which is connected to hub switch 116 of FIG. 9. Amodule bay controller 418 controls the bus 408 in accordance withstandard practice. Alternatively, if the interface switch is notconnected to a gateway switch with mailboxes 14, the interface switchfunctions only as a general purpose collector switch for the additionalprocessors 312.

[0094] While the invention has been described in terms of its preferredembodiments, it should be understood that numerous modifications may bemade thereto without departing from the spirit arid scope as defined inthe appended claims. For example, while the invention has been describedin terms of utilizing a preferred RF information transmission network,it should be understood that the invention is equally applicable toother forms of RF transmission systems for broadcasting informationoriginating from an originating processor within an electronic mailsystem or from an additional processor outside of any electronic mailsystem to a destination processor connected to an electronic mailsystem. It is intended that all such modifications fall within the scopeof the appended claims.

1. An electronic mail system for transmitting information from one of aplurality of originating processors to at least one of a plurality ofdestination processors during operation comprising: at least one gatewayswitch, a gateway switch storing information received from one of the atleast one originating processor prior to transmission of the informationto the at least one destination processor; a RF information transmissionnetwork for transmitting stored information received from one of the atleast one gateway switch by RF transmission to at least one destinationprocessor; at least one interface switch, an interface switch connectinga gateway switch to the RF transmission network and transmitting storedinformation received from one of the at least one gateway switch to theRF information transmission network; and wherein the information istransmitted to a receiving interface switch by the electronic mailsystem in response to an address of the receiving interface switch whichhas been added to the information originated by the originatingprocessor by either the originating processor or gateway switch and theinformation is transmitted from the receiving interface switch to the REinformation transmission network with an address of the destinationprocessor to receive the information which has been added by either theoriginating processor, a gateway switch or the receiving interfaceswitch.
 2. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 1 wherein:the receiving interface switch removes information added by theelectronic mail system to the information originated by the originatingprocessor from the stored information received from one of the at leastone gateway switch and adds information used by the RF informationtransmission network during transmission of the information to theinformation originated by the originating processor to a RF receiver inthe RF information transmission network which receives the informationand relays it to the destination processor.
 3. An electronic mail systemin accordance with claim 1 wherein: the address of the destinationprocessor is an identification number of a RF receiver in the RFinformation transmission network which receives the information andrelays it to the destination processor; and the receiving interfaceswitch stores information which has been stored by at least one gatewayswitch that is received from a plurality of originating processors,assembles the information from a plurality of originating processorsinto a packet and transmits the packet to the RF informationtransmission network.
 4. An electronic mail system in accordance withclaim 3 wherein the RF information transmission network comprises: aswitch which receives the packet from the receiving interface switch anddisassembles the packet into information from the plurality oforiginating processors; and wherein the RF information transmissionnetwork transmits the disassembled information, including theidentification number of the RF receiver relaying information to adestination processor to a switch in the RF information transmissionnetwork storing a file identified by the identification number and anydestination of the RF receiver in the RR information transmissionnetwork to which the information and identification number is to betransmitted by the RF information transmission network and adds anydestination of the RR receiver to the information and the RF informationtransmission network in response to any added destination transmits theinformation and identification number to the destination for RFbroadcast to the RF receiver for relaying to the destination processor.5. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 2 wherein: theaddress of the destination processor is an identification number of a RFreceiver in the RF transmission network which receives the informationand relays it to the destination processor; and the receiving interfaceswitch stores information which has been stored by at least one gatewayswitch that is received from a plurality of originating processors,assembles the information from a plurality of originating processorsinto a packet and transmits the packet to the RF informationtransmission network.
 6. An electronic mail system in accordance withclaim 5 wherein the RF information transmission network comprises: aswitch which receives the packet from the receiving interface switch anddisassembles the packet into information from the plurality oforiginating processors; and wherein the RF information transmissionnetwork transmits the disassembled information, including theidentification number of the RF receiver relaying information todestination processor to a switch in the RF information transmissionnetwork storing a file identified by the identification number and anydestination of the RF receiver in the RF information transmissionnetwork to which the information and identification number is to betransmitted by the RF information transmission network and adds anydestination of the RF receiver to the information and the RF informationtransmission network in response to any added destination transmits theinformation and identification number to the destination for REbroadcast to the RF receiver for relaying to the destination processor.7. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 1 wherein: theelectronic mail system also transmits information between an originatingprocessor and at least one destination processor through either a publicor private switch telephone network without transmission by the RFinformation transmission network with the destination processor beingaddressed by a different address during transmission to the destinationprocessor when using the public switch telephone network transmissionnetwork than during transmission by the RF information transmissionnetwork.
 8. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 2wherein: the electronic mail system also transmits information betweenan originating processor and at least one destination processor througheither a public or private switch telephone network without transmissionby the RF information transmission network with the destinationprocessor being addressed by a different address during transmission tothe destination processor when using the public switch telephone networktransmission network than during transmission by the RF informationtransmission network.
 9. An electronic mail system in accordance withclaim 3 wherein: the electronic mail system also transmits informationbetween an originating processor and at least one destination processorthrough either a public or private switch telephone network withouttransmission by the RF information transmission network with thedestination processor being addressed by a different address duringtransmission to the destination processor when using the public switchtelephone network transmission network than during transmission by theRF information transmission network.
 10. An electronic mail system inaccordance with claim 4 wherein: the electronic mail system alsotransmits information between an originating processor and at least onedestination processor through either a public or private switchtelephone network without transmission by the RF informationtransmission network with the destination processor being addressed by adifferent address during transmission to the destination processor whenusing the public switch telephone network transmission network thanduring transmission by the RF information transmission network.
 11. Anelectronic mail system in accordance with claim 5 wherein: theelectronic mail system also transmits information between an originatingprocessor and at least one destination processor through either a publicor private switch telephone network without transmission by the RFinformation transmission network with the destination processor beingaddressed by a different address during transmission to the destinationprocessor when using the public switch telephone network transmissionnetwork than during transmission by the RF information transmissionnetwork.
 12. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 6wherein: the electronic mail system also transmits information betweenan originating processor and at least one destination processor througheither a public or private switch telephone network without transmissionby the RF information transmission network with the destinationprocessor being addressed by a different address during transmission tothe destination processor when using the public switch telephone networktransmission network than during transmission by the RF informationtransmission network.
 13. An electronic mail system in accordance withclaim 1 further comprising: a RF receiver connectable to the destinationprocessor and in response to connection of the RF receiver to thedestination processor the RF receiver transfers information stored in amemory of the RF receiver received from the originating processor to thedestination processor; a number of originating processors is greaterthan a number of interface switches; and a plurality of originatingprocessors also function as destination processors with a RF receiverconnected thereto.
 14. An electronic mail system in accordance withclaim 1 wherein: the address of the receiving interface switch is addedto the information originated by the originating processor by a gatewayswitch.
 15. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 1wherein: the address of the receiving interface switch is added by theoriginating processor.
 16. An electronic mail system in accordance withclaim 1 wherein: the address of the destination processor is anidentification number of a RF receiver receiving the information andrelaying the information to the destination processor and is added tothe information originated by the originating processor by theoriginating processor.
 17. An electronic mail system in accordance withclaim 1 wherein: the address of the destination processor is anidentification number of a RF receiver receiving the information andrelaying the information to the destination processor and is added tothe information originated by the originating processor by the gatewayswitch.
 18. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 1wherein: the address of the destination processor is an identificationnumber of a RF receiver receiving the information and relaying theinformation to the destination processor and is added to the informationoriginated by the originating processor by the receiving interfaceswitch.
 19. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 2wherein: the address of the receiving interface switch is added to theinformation originated by the originating processor by a gateway switch.20. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 2 wherein: theaddress of the receiving interface switch is added by the originatingprocessor.
 21. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 2wherein: the identification number of the RF receiver is added to theinformation originated by the originating processor by the originatingprocessor.
 22. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 2wherein: the identification number of the RF receiver is added to theinformation originated by the originating processor by the gatewayswitch.
 23. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 2wherein: the identification number of the RF receiver is added to theinformation originated by the originating processor by the receivinginterface switch.
 24. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim3 wherein: the address of the receiving interface switch is added to theinformation originated by the originating processor by a gateway switch.25. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 13 wherein: theaddress of the receiving interface switch is added by the originatingprocessor.
 26. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 13wherein: the identification number of the RF receiver is added to theinformation originated by the originating processor by the originatingprocessor.
 27. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 13wherein: the identification number of the RF receiver is added to theinformation originated by the originating processor by the gatewayswitch.
 28. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 13wherein: the identification number of the RF receiver is added to theinformation originated by the originating processor by the receivinginterface switch.
 29. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim4 wherein: the address of the receiving interface switch is added to theinformation originated by the originating processor by a gateway switch.30. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 4 wherein: theaddress of the receiving interface switch is added by the originatingprocessor.
 31. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 4wherein: the identification number of the RF receiver receiving theinformation and relaying the information to the destination processorand is added to the information originated by the originating processorby the originating processor.
 32. An electronic mail system inaccordance with claim 4 wherein: the identification number of the RFreceiver is added to the information originated by the originatingprocessor by the gateway switch.
 33. An electronic mail system inaccordance with claim 4 wherein: the identification number of the RFreceiver is added to the information originated by the originatingprocessor by the receiving interface switch.
 34. An electronic mailsystem in accordance with claim 5 wherein: the address of the receivinginterface switch is added to the information originated by theoriginating processor by a gateway switch.
 35. An electronic mail systemin accordance with claim 5 wherein: the address of the receivinginterface switch is added by the originating processor.
 36. Anelectronic mail system in accordance with claim 5 wherein: theidentification number of the RF receiver is added to the informationoriginated by the originating processor by the originating processor.37. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 5 wherein: theidentification number of an RF receiver is added to the informationoriginated by the originating processor by the gateway switch.
 38. Anelectronic mail system in accordance with claim 5 wherein: theidentification number of the RF receiver is added to the informationoriginated by the originating processor by the receiving interfaceswitch.
 39. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 6wherein: the address of the receiving interface switch is added to theinformation originated by the originating processor by a gateway switch.40. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 6 wherein: theaddress of the receiving interface switch is added by the originatingprocessor.
 41. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 6wherein: the identification number of the RF receiver is added to theinformation originated by the originating processor by the originatingprocessor.
 42. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 6wherein: the identification number of the RF receiver is added to theinformation originated by the originating processor by the gatewayswitch.
 43. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 6wherein: the identification number of the RF receiver is added to theinformation originated by the originating processor by the receivinginterface switch.
 44. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim14 wherein: the address of the receiving interface switch is added bymatching an identification of the destination processor with a storedidentification of a destination processor and adding an address of aninterface switch stored with the matched identification of thedestination processor to the information as the address of the receivinginterface switch.
 45. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim15 wherein: the address of the receiving interface switch is added by aninputting of the address of the receiving interface switch along with anidentification of the destination processor.
 46. An electronic mailsystem in accordance with claim 15 wherein: the address of the receivinginterface switch is added by matching an identification of thedestination processor with a stored identification of a destinationprocessor and adding an address of an interface switch stored with thematched identification of the destination processor to the informationas the address of the receiving interface switch.
 47. An electronic mailsystem in accordance with claim 16 wherein: the identification number isadded to the information originated by the originating processor byinputting the identification number to the originating processor.
 48. Anelectronic mail system in accordance with claim 16 wherein: theidentification number is added to the information originated by theoriginating processor by matching an identification of the destinationprocessor with a stored identification of a destination processor aridadding an identification number stored with the matched identificationof the destination processor to the information as the identificationnumber.
 49. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 17wherein: the identification number is added to the informationoriginated by the originating processor by matching an identification ofthe destination processor with a stored identification of a destinationprocessor and adding an identification number stored with the matchedidentification of the destination processor to the information as theidentification number.
 50. An electronic mail system in accordance withclaim 18 wherein: the identification number is added to the informationoriginated by the originating processor by matching an identification ofthe destination processor with a stored identification of a destinationprocessor and adding an identification number stored with the matchedidentification of the destination processor to the information as theidentification number.
 51. An electronic mail system in accordance withclaim 19 wherein: the address of the receiving interface switch is addedby matching an identification of the destination processor with a storedidentification of a destination processor and adding an address of aninterface switch stored with the matched identification of thedestination processor to the information as the address of the receivinginterface switch.
 52. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim20 wherein: the address of the receiving interface switch is added by aninputting of the address of the receiving interface switch along with anidentification of the destination processor.
 53. An electronic mailsystem in accordance with claim 20 wherein: the address of the receivinginterface switch is added by matching an identification of thedestination processor with a stored identification of a destinationprocessor and adding an address of an interface switch stored with thematched identification of the destination processor to the informationas the address of the receiving interface switch.
 54. An electronic mailsystem in accordance with claim 21 wherein: an identification number isadded to the information originated by the originating processor byinputting the identification number to the originating processor.
 55. Anelectronic mail system in accordance with claim 21 wherein: theidentification number is added to the information originated by theoriginating processor by matching an identification of the destinationprocessor with a stored identification of a destination processor andadding an identification number stored with the matched identificationof the destination processor to the information as the identificationnumber.
 56. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 22wherein: the identification number is added to the informationoriginated by the originating processor by matching an identification ofthe destination processor with a stored identification of a destinationprocessor and adding an identification number stored with the matchedidentification of the destination processor to the information as theidentification number.
 57. An electronic mail system in accordance withclaim 23 wherein: the identification number is added to the informationoriginated by the originating processor by matching an identification ofthe destination processor with a stored identification of a destinationprocessor and adding an identification number stored with the matchedidentification of the destination processor to the information as theidentification number.
 58. An electronic mail system in accordance withclaim 24 wherein: the address of the receiving interface switch is addedby matching an identification of the destination processor with a storedidentification of a destination processor and adding an address of aninterface switch stored with the matched identification of thedestination processor to the information as the address of the receivinginterface switch.
 59. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim25 wherein: the address of the receiving interface switch is added by aninputting of the address of the receiving interface switch along with anidentification of the destination processor.
 60. An electronic mailsystem in accordance with claim 25 wherein: the address of the receivinginterface switch is added by matching an identification of thedestination processor with a stored identification of a destinationprocessor and adding an address of an interface switch stored with thematched identification of the destination processor to the informationas the address of the receiving interface switch.
 61. An electronic mailsystem in, accordance with claim 26 wherein: an identification number isadded to the information originated by the originating processor byinputting the identification number to the originating processor.
 62. Anelectronic mail system in accordance with claim 26 wherein: theidentification number is added to the information originated by theoriginating processor by matching an identification of the destinationprocessor with a stored identification of a destination processor andadding an identification number stored with the matched identificationof the destination processor to the information as the identificationnumber.
 63. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 27wherein: the identification number is added to the informationoriginated by the originating processor by matching an identification ofthe destination processor with a stored identification of a destinationprocessor and adding an identification number stored with the matchedidentification of the destination processor to the information as theidentification number.
 64. An electronic mail system in accordance withclaim 28 wherein: the identification number is added to the informationoriginated by the originating processor by matching an identification ofthe destination processor with a stored identification of a destinationprocessor and adding an identification number stored with the matchedidentification of the destination processor to the information as theidentification number.
 65. An electronic mail system in accordance withclaim 29 wherein: the address of the receiving interface switch is addedby matching an identification of the destination processor with a storedidentification of a destination processor and adding an address of aninterface switch stored with the matched identification of thedestination processor to the information as the address of the receivinginterface switch.
 66. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim30 wherein: the address of the receiving interface switch is added by aninputting of the address of the receiving interface switch along with anidentification of the destination processor.
 67. An electronic mailsystem in accordance with claim 30 wherein: the address of the receivinginterface switch is added by matching an identification of thedestination processor with a stored identification of a destinationprocessor and adding an address of an interface switch stored with thematched identification of the destination processor to the informationas the address of the receiving interface switch.
 68. An electronic mailsystem in accordance with claim 31 wherein: an identification number isadded to the information originated by the originating processor byinputting the identification number to the originating processor.
 69. Anelectronic mail system in accordance with claim 31 wherein: theidentification number is added to the information originated by theoriginating processor by matching an identification of the destinationprocessor with a stored identification of a destination processor andadding an identification number stored with the matched identificationof the destination processor to the information as the identificationnumber.
 70. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 32wherein: the identification number is added to the informationoriginated by the originating processor by matching an identification ofthe destination processor with a stored identification of a destinationprocessor and adding an identification number stored with the matchedidentification of the destination processor to the information as theidentification number.
 71. An electronic mail system in accordance withclaim 33 wherein: the identification number is added to the informationoriginated by the originating processor by matching an identification ofthe destination processor with a stored identification of a destinationprocessor and adding an identification number stored with the matchedidentification of the destination processor to the information as theidentification number.
 72. An electronic mail system in accordance withclaim 34 wherein: the address of the receiving interface switch is addedby matching an identification of the destination processor with a storedidentification of a destination processor and adding an address of aninterface switch stored with the matched identification of thedestination processor to the information as the address of the receivinginterface switch.
 73. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim35 wherein: the address of the receiving interface switch is added by aninputting of the address of the receiving interface switch along with anidentification of the destination processor.
 74. An electronic mailsystem in accordance with claim 35 wherein: the address of the receivinginterface switch is added by matching an identification of thedestination processor with a stored identification of a destinationprocessor and adding an address of an interface switch stored with thematched identification of the destination processor to the informationas the address of the receiving interface switch.
 75. An electronic mailsystem in accordance with claim 36 wherein: an identification number isadded to the information originated by the originating processor byinputting the identification number to the originating processor.
 76. Anelectronic mail system in accordance with claim 36 wherein: theidentification number is added to the information originated by theoriginating processor by matching an identification of the destinationprocessor with a stored identification of a destination processor andadding an identification number stored with the matched identificationof the destination processor to the information as the identificationnumber.
 77. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 37wherein: the identification number is added to the informationoriginated by the originating processor by matching an identification ofthe destination processor with a stored identification of a destinationprocessor and adding an identification number stored with the matchedidentification of the destination processor to the information as theidentification number.
 78. An electronic mail system in accordance withclaim 38 wherein: the identification number is added to the informationoriginated by the originating processor by matching an identification ofthe destination processor with a stored identification of a destinationprocessor and adding an identification number stored with the matchedidentification of the destination processor to the information as theidentification number.
 79. An electronic mail system in accordance withclaim 39 wherein: the address of the receiving interface switch is addedby matching an identification of the destination processor with a storedidentification of a destination processor and adding an address of aninterface switch stored with the matched identification of thedestination processor to the information as the address of the receivinginterface switch.
 80. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim40 wherein: the address of the receiving interface switch is added by aninputting of the address of the receiving interface switch along with anidentification of the destination processor.
 81. An electronic mailsystem in accordance with claim 40 wherein: the address of the receivinginterface switch is added by matching an identification of thedestination processor with a stored identification of a destinationprocessor and adding an address of an interface switch stored with thematched identification of the destination processor to the informationas the address of the receiving interface switch.
 82. An electronic mailsystem in accordance with claim 41 wherein: an identification number isadded to the information originated by the originating processor byinputting the identification number to the originating processor.
 83. Anelectronic mail system in accordance with claim 41 wherein: theidentification number is added to the information originated by theoriginating processor by matching an identification of the destinationprocessor with a stored identification of a destination processor andadding an identification number stored with the matched identificationof the destination processor to the information as the identificationnumber.
 84. An electronic mail system in accordance with claim 42wherein: the identification number is added to the informationoriginated by the originating processor by matching an identification ofthe destination processor with a stored identification of a destinationprocessor and adding an identification number stored with the matchedidentification of the destination processor to the information as theidentification number.
 85. An electronic mail system in accordance withclaim 43 wherein: the identification number is added to the informationoriginated by the originating processor by matching an identification ofthe destination processor with a stored identification of a destinationprocessor and adding an identification number stored with the matchedidentification of the destination processor to the information as theidentification number.